Leaving
by Susan Ann
Summary: Kenshin decides to leave the Kamaya dojo. Spending one last night, he is visited by some friends from his past.


Leaving

Standard Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and Rurouni Kenshin characters are owned by someone other than me.This is fiction and for entertainment purposes only. This story was not written for sale or profit.Also I do not own Charles Dickens 'Christmas Carol' although I wish that I did.

PLEASEBEFORE YOU FLAME ME READ THIS…..

This was something that I had to write.I patterned my story after Charles Dickens'Christmas Carol' which happens to be one of my favorite stories.I wrote in the narrative because it is easier for me and I think that is the way this story should be written.I hope that my story is not to confusing.Ok now be my guest and flame away.

Leaving

Hitokiri Battousia, just a man, who pushed aside his emotions and self worth, to fight for a cause that he believed in.His feelings were so strong that he would have died for his beliefs.

Racing through the night, he used his deadly skills on a target not of his choosing.He had no desire to think, he just did his job, then walked away without looking back.

Fate put a strong emotion in his path.He reveled in it until it was turned against him.His hands destroyed the joy he found making the pain to great to bear.He pushed his emotions aside, once again took up the sword and renewed his belief in the cause. He vowed once the war was over he would find a way to protect without killing. 

He gave his soul to the cause and for in doing that he could survive.Day after day the killing and blood shed pushed him farther and farther away from any emotion.

As he walked through the battlefields all he could see was the faces of death and the destruction of the human bodies.He worked even harder to control and lock away any emotion that tried to surface.

He had a gift that could be used to protect the weak and innocent.And he vowed to use it to the fullest to obtain that goal. 

He continued to fight until sleep became necessary for only then could he rest without dreaming of the battlefield.Only then was he able to acquire the energy to go on and kill some more.

The battle that decided the end of the war was finally fought and won.For Kenshin Himura that was when the killing stopped.Plunging his sword into the blood soaked battlefield was his last act as Hitokiri Battousia.

Walking away from that field, he received a path to redemption in the form of the reversed blade sword.

As the distance grew between him and his past, he knew that he was unworthy of having anything good in this life.****He devoted his life to wandering and protecting anyone who needed his help.Only then could he atone for his actions.

For ten years he wandered through out Japan, until one foggy morning in Tokyo.

"Hold it right there, don't move Hitokiri Battousia," she yelled at him.He stopped and turned around to look at the most beautiful woman in the world, Kaoru Kamiya.

No sooner had he taken up residence than he was torn away to once more fight for the cause.He abandoned everything he wanted, to set forth on a mission to once again save the cause.

She followed him.She fought for his cause.She waited for him.He came back to her.They returned to Tokyo together.

He lived his life for so long without emotion, it was hard for him to be around her, for he was unable to reveal his growing love for her. 

She tried everything she knew or could think of, to get his attention and let him know how she felt about him.For her love for him was also growing with each passing day. 

He saw her signs but remembered his past and the pain that emotion had caused him.The war was now inside him but he had no weapons or skill to fight.His instinct told him to run as far and as fast as he could.

He tried to leave once before and she had followed.He had to tell her and make her understand.He made the decision to leave in the morning, he would sleep one last night in the peace and comfort that he felt living with her.

As sleep flooded his body, he heard the swish of his door being opened.He sat up and felt no danger.He looked at the space where the door had been and there stood his mother.****

She walked to him, knelt down and embraced him.His body rejected her at first, then embraced the comfort she offered him.

She whispered his name, a name he had not heard in years.Then she told him of three spirits that had requested to help him to release his emotions.Each one would visit him this very night.The first would take him to the past, the second would show him the present, and the third would take him into the future he had planned.

With her message delivered, she slowly backed away and faded into the darkness as, "I love you, Shinta," caressed his ears.

It seemed like only seconds when the door swished open again.In the moonlight he could see Kasumi as she beckoned him to follow her.

Kasumi took his hand and they flew to the past and a battlefield where he fought during the war.His heart ached for the slain soldiers still on the battlefield.Then they stopped at the camp where he ate and slept.

Kasumi pointed at a lonely figure asleep in a sitting position.He was shocked to see himself.His features showed the pain and loneliness that he tried to hide.

Kasumi reclaimed his hand and they returned to the yard of the Kamiya Dojo.He watched as the students left after their lessons.She was now alone at the dojo.She slowly walked back to the kitchen to make something to eat.She only picked at the food she prepared for dinner, and then she set it aside.She walked to her room, crawled into her bed and cried herself to sleep.He tried to comfort her but was unable to touch her.He looked at Kasumi, who said, "no this is her past before you came into her life."

The pain in his heart for her woke him up.Once he realized he was in his own bed, he shrugged his experience off as a dream.

The light blinded him it was so bright.He shaded his eyes with his hand and could barely make out a figure.Akane stepped forward and extended her hand.Hesitantly he took the hand that was offered.

They walked outside into the light.Akane smiled at him.Then they watched as he washed the clothes and managed to look at her every time she walked past him.In the short time they were there she managed to walk past him five times.It surprised him that he looked so happy.

They watched as she giggled and bounced around the washtub to get his attention.When he would look at her, her face would light up like a candle.The light went out and he was back in bed.

He was not surprised when the door swished open again.This time a strong breeze swirled around the room and deposited Sakura next to him.She was dressed in a black kimono with white powder on her solemn face. 

When Sakura extended her hand to him, he tried to hide under the covers only to find himself standing in her room.She sat in a fetal position in the far corner softly calling his name.Her body was thin as if she hadn't eaten anything in a long time.Her skin was pale and her breathing was labored.Her tangled hair fell forward covering her face.Slowly she lifted her face up as if to look at him.He took a sharp breath when he saw her face.Her eyes were red and sunk into her head, her cheeks were almost non-existent and her lips were bluish colored and drawn tight over yellow teeth. 

As he looked around the room, he could not believe his eyes.There were clothes and food scattered all over the room as if there had been a food fight.He looked at Sakura and asked why no one was there for her.When he received no reply he turned back to her.She stood next to her dresser with a flame to light a candle but was to weak to reach it so the flame started her hair on fire.Unable to do anything, he could only watch as her clothes started to burn.With his name on her lips, she succumbed to her fiery death.

He covered his eyes trying to hide from the horror that he had just witnessed.Sakura gently pulled his hands away from his face and pointed in the direction she wanted him to look.

He saw a small village. He stared at himself as he walked down one of the streets.His body was almost in the same condition as hers had been.He watched as a young boy approached his other self.Startled by the young boy he was quick to draw his sword and take the boys life.He no longer carried the reversed blade sword.With no emotion his other self just walked away.

With tears in his eyes, he fell down and pounded the ground as he chanted, "I can't let that happen."His tears released all the emotions that had been pushed aside so long ago.A gentle hand touched his chin making him look up.When he looked into Sakura's face, he understood that he could change the future.Once again she saved him. 

He was back on his bed with the barest of sun light shining thru the window.He wanted to run but he forced himself to walk to her room.Quietly he opened her door and entered.He had to make sure that she was all right.As he knelt down beside her and drank in her beauty like a man dying of thirst, he felt free to express his feelings.She stirred and slowly opened her eyes.She was surprised that he had been staring at her**.**

Slowly he started to close the distance between them.When she realized what he was about to do, her heart pounded and she licked her lips in anticipation for the moment she had been waiting for**.**

When their lips met, their arms completed the union and with no words spoken they both knew that their future would be shared together forever.

So anybody have any comments, thoughts, or opinions that they want to share?

Please let me know,

In the box below.


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